esitated.

"What?"

"Hadn't you better--I mean, won't the mask get in your way?"

She lowered the jug and looked at me. "No; it won't get in the way.
Thanks all the same," she said steadily. "Not all to-day."

"It's in the way now."

"Not my way."

I saw her eyes watching my face as she drank, and when she took the jug
from her lips she was smiling.

We had some difficulty in persuading the boy to leave us; but at
length, a heavy bribe, coupled with the assurance that we should be at
the fete in the afternoon, had the desired effect, and he went slowly
away.

Thereafter we took counsel together.

As a result, it was decided that we should fold the booth--it shut up
like a screen--and convey it, puppets and all, a little way into the
wood. It was early yet, but some people would be passing along the
road, and we were not yet ready to combat the curiosity that the
appearance of a Punch and Judy show would be sure to arouse. That
done, she would lie close in the wood with Toby, while I made off home
and changed.

As I started off, after settling her in the bracken, I heard the
village clock strike the half-hour. Half-past seven. I gained the
house unobserved. No one was abroad except the servants, but I heard
Daphne singing in the bathroom.

I had worn the Pierrot dress two years ago at a fancy-dress ball.

There it lay with its mask at the bottom of the wardrobe. The change
was soon completed, and I stood up a proper Folly, from the skull cap
upon my crown to the pumps upon my feet. It took some time to find the
nose, but luck was with me, and at last I ran it to earth in an old
collar-box. Truly an appalling article, it stuck straight out from my
face like a fat, fiery peg, but between that and the mask, my disguise
would defy detection.

Suddenly I had a brilliant idea. Sitting down, I scribbled a note to
Daphne to the effect that, owing to a sleepless night, my nerve had
forsaken me, and that, unable to face the terror of the bazaar, I had
fled to Town, and should not be back till late. I added that I should
be with her in the spirit, which, after all, was the main thing.

I put on a long overcoat and a soft hat. The nose went into one
pocket, the mask into another. Then I went cautiously downstairs and
into the dining-room. It was empty, and breakfast was partially laid.

In feverish haste I hacked about a pound of meat off a York ham and
nearly as much off a new tongue. Wrapping the